Sisters! Sisters! There were never such devoted sisters...

For a reason I cannot yet comprehend, I "assisted" my Mom in choosing Christmas Day 2009 as the day we'd take our Wilson Family photos....bad idea. For oh so many reasons. These pictures are exhibit A in proving that the whole group family pictures were a disaster. But, as on that day, this day, too, I won't dwell on my poor choices! It was bitter cold and these pics show that only the toughest of the Wilson clan can still smile while freezing their backsides off! Notice the absence of men...except, of course, our faithful photographer, Dave, who had my camera. Kyrsten had Jenn's. Bless their souls!

Me, Amy, Jenn and Amber...I didn't get the memo that we weren't posing "sassy"...

The impromptu photo shoot started because I wasn't willing to leave this beautiful bridge without at least a few pictures taken there! Amy, Jenn and I started it, then noticed that Steve and Amber's car was still in the parking lot a hundred yards away, so we waved her over as well! That's just called taking advantage of a gorgeous setting!

A little sass, just cause we can!

We had fun, laughing the whole time--I don't think they believed we were really going to TOUCH the frozen bridge metal...but I was seriously focused on doing just that!

...and here we are, bravely snuggling with the frigid metal!

...then we had to snuggle with each other to warm up!

Oh yeah, we went ahead and climbed on up...then straddled it for good measure! Totally worth it, I think, cause it's such a fun pose!

And it was hysterically funny trying to hold each other up there!

I wish all my sisters had been there to play with us! I'm SO grateful for each of my sisters, who build me up and love me just the way I am!

Do we call the Connectikittens "Kansas-cats" or "Chihuahuas"?

For Sadie's birthday, my Mom and I wanted to surprise her for a visit to their new home in Kansas (although the kids insist they don't LIVE there, they're just RENTING :) We flew in late Thursday night and Steve and Amber picked us up from the airport, assuring us that the kids knew nothing of our visit...just as we had hoped :) They gave us their master bedroom, and informed us that Wyatt might be dropping by, his habit lately is to crawl into their bed several times a night....Steve said he'd already done it twice before 11pm that night. Sure enough, about 1:30, he shows up on my side of the bed. I say, "hi, Wy. It's Mellie." He climbs up and snuggles in between Grandma and I. He sleeps like Sid the sloth, so we didn't get much sleep, with all of his wiggling. My Mom told me the next morning she hadn't heard him come in and thought I was the restless sleeper! His face was priceless when he woke up and saw Aunt Mellie and Grandma where his parents were supposed to be...he just kept looking back and forth and rubbing his eyes! Just about then, I heard Steve and Amber talking to Sadie in the hall...asking if she got everything she wanted for her birthday. She said, "Yeah. But Mellie's present didn't come and she said it would be here on Thursday!" He replied that she better check out his room and they opened the door to me and Grandma doing, "SURPRISE!!!" Another priceless expression as she jumped up and down and ran to hug us. And of course, Christian was totally cool and easy-going about the whole thing. "Oh, Mellie and Grandma in the bed? Ok. Whatevs." (I'm sure that's what he was thinking :)
So, here are some random pics from the weekend--we mostly spent our time just hanging out, wrestling (Wyatt kept begging for more!), snuggling, playing games, and a little shopping and site seeing:)

Grandpa Mel sent balloons for the kids--they absolutely loved them. It broke my heart, though, when Christian couldn't blow one up! He would huff and puff and shake with the effort, then, with a defeated look on his face, he'd bring the totally soggy balloon to me and say "Blow it, please". Killed me!

Grandma brought a Siamese cat for Christian and a horse for Wyatt (cause he's addicted to horses), but Wyatt fell in love with the kitten, and it never left his clutches all weekend. He kept calling it a Chihuahua. Hmmm.

Sadie loved her new makeup, which she immediately put on, using her Caboodle mirror (she's turned into such a girl!) while Ruby climbed over everything and everybody to get to the stretchy spiders!

Where she immediately tested the strength of said stretchy spiders!

Chihuahua, Horse and Hippo. Wyatt is most happy when surrounded by his animals, as evidenced by his cheesy grin!

All clean! I love those two tiny teeth!

Telling bedtime stories to Sadie and Wyatt...yes, I did climb up her ladder to her super high bed, where I couldn't even sit up straight on! And yes, that's the ceiling fan above her head. She's rocks that bunk!

Grandma Rosemary and the bed-jumpers.

Getting ready to go to a marble factory and to Liberty Jail in Missouri.

I absolutely LOVE this shot of Christian giving loves to Grandma. He's just so stinking sweet!

Chrisch and Sadie jammy-snuggling watching Curious George's Christmas...a gift from Grandma that Chrisch went nuts over!

Sadie had to spread the joy of makeup with Grandma...giving her a makeover, complete with painted nails, sparkly eyeshadow and lip gloss :) Like I said, total girl!

This kiddo likes to sit next to-slash-on top of his movie buddies...and don't we love it!

See what I mean?! This was the night I must have been made of Velcro, cause neither Chrisch nor Wyatt could stop from jumping on me. Don't think I didn't love it, cause I most certainly did!

Sadie Mae helping her Grandma do dishes. She's such a sweetheart!

During my princess makeover on the bunk!

Playing Candy Land!

I've seen this look before on Ruby's big sister...isn't she precious?? This dress was made by a friend of mine from work, and it was fun to see it on her (Sadie has a twin one in the next pic)

Miss Weasel-pants, my best friend!

We're not in Kansas anymore (after today, anyway...)

The last day my Mom and I were in Kansas, we all woke up to snow falling....and by "snow" I mean "slush"--the kind that looks like snow in the sky, but falls and within seconds turns into wet, slushy puddles. But that didn't matter to the kids! They were out on the balcony in full winter gear playing in the snow. In all their pure, childhood wonder :)

Except for baby Ruby, who stayed in her jammies, in the warmth of her Aunt Mellie's arms!

...Which was fine by me!

Steve and my Mom think she looks and acts like a similar version of me when I was a baby--only much more adorable, I'm sure!

The first day or two of our visit Ruby wasn't really into me...she's a mama's girl and I'm practically a stranger. Well, I wasn't going to let that fly. Even though I haven't seen her nearly as much as I'd like to, she's still my girl and I really wanted to get to know her. So I gave her an ultimatum, naturally. I told her she had til Sunday (day 3 of our trip) to be wary of me, then we were to be best friends. Totally worked.

Sadie was the first one out, of course, tossing slush-balls at the door...

Wyatt was loving every second of it!

I'm pretty sure they were singing Christmas carols, loud and strong!

This is so typical for these two...Wyatt all in your face, making a crazy face of his own, and Christian sweetly smiling in the background, letting Wyatt take the glory, but knowing he's every bit as lovable!

Snapped a pic of the flake on his eyelash...or, as Wyatt pronounces it, "eye-waash"

This one loves an adventure...ANY adventure. Just like her dad.

Poor Chrisch, he's feeling the cold but loving the fun

They kept coming in for more winter gear....hats, mittens, scarves, boots...the whole shebang!

The performance never wavers, for Sadie and Wyatt...always on.

Amber's the best mom....she had hot coco with marshmallow and mini candy canes for her frozen little ones

Sticky.....

.....and delicious.....

....and all over your face! Exactly as it should be :)

Flash forward to half an hour later when Mom and I were all packed up and ready to say goodbye....one quick last snuggle...

...and we were off! Can't wait til Christmas, when we can see these cute little weasels again!!!
LOVE YOU, SADIE, WYATT, CHRISTIAN and RUBY!!!!

Werewolf Fans

On opening night of our latest obsession in the Twilight saga, 'New Moon', I went out with some of my girls to celebrate....and to see the movie, of course :) I met up with Brittney to hit Kohl's for some shopping then we met Amy (hereto referred to as "Cousin"), Kaye, Vendla, and Sarah at Chili's for some dinner before we saw our 12:01 show (where Sundee and Jodi joined us). I laughed so hard and we had an absolute BLAST!!! I'm grateful such a silly thing as a vampire/werewolf/human love triangulated movie aimed at teenagers could bring us together for a reason to celebrate! It was pure joy!!

Vendla, Cousin, Me, Britt, Sarah and Kaye after our "Twofers" (Chili's had their 2-for-$20 special going on, which we took complete and total advantage of, splitting our feasts with a friend!) And by the by, we didn't realize this was a "shortest-to-tallest" shot until AFTER it was taken...we rarely discriminate by height, and didn't do it that night!

Cousin, Jodi, Edward, Jacob, Bella, Britt and I outside the theater...

Cousin, Me and Britt squished in for one of my favorite (and famously-spot on, actually) one-handed tricks--the self-portrait! I do them all the time for lack of a photographer on hand and it usually works pretty well! This photo-op is requisite for our movie-going lately, we gotta get one in front of the movie poster :)

I brought some glitter left over from Halloween for us to put anywhere we deemed needed glittery. After Cousin rubbed some on her neck and chest, she suggested I put some on her eyelids....then closed her eyes and exposed her chest. It took me a second to register...but then reminded her that those AREN'T her eyes. It was hilarious, and we're basically still laughing about it! I sure love my Cousin!

Britt found/purchased with her kid's meal this New Moon crown, which we all took turns wearing...if only for a quick pic...I don't think anyone wanted to commit to it for the whole movie :)

Apparently, Kaye is Team Bella....

Vendalita (that's the only nick name she'll let me call her--and believe me, I've tried a LOT of nicknames...Vend, Vendy, Vend-a-la, nothing works except Vendalita, I'll use what she gives me :) She's sporting the crown well, and if you'll notice her left ear...it isn't actually that small...she has it TUCKED into itself!! I requested she leave it that way because it's one of my favorite quirks about this girl! I love it!

Sarah seems very comfortable posing in a crown...maybe she has princess genes, hmm.

JoJo sporting the Team Edward shirt whilst wearing the crown Edward-front. It looks like she's a hater. But I think she was just sporting her Twilight-approved gear, and that's the shirt she had...don't worry, she loves Jacob too.

She brought it, but she certainly didn't flaunt it! I didn't catch Britt with the crown, but she definitely showed her true colors with the Quileute tattoo on her shirt! That girl obviously loves the big brown boys (if there's ever a question, check out her hubby :)

I made Cousin wear the crown to the bathroom (cause I'm just plain mean, I guess, or willing to do anything/make anyone do anything for a good laugh!) and caught her on the way back, waving to her adoring fans :) She actually saw me with my camera and was hamming it up...I guess making others laugh runs in the family!

Ahh, cousins. Aren't we sparkly??!!!

I even wore the stupid crown! I say 'stupid' simply because it made my head look funny...as if I have a tiny head!

And I had to get a pic of Britt and I, who, we swear, were separated at birth. The theory is that we're twins...we just have such similar childhood stories about our families and can complete each others' sentences/thoughts most days!

Britt, Sarah, Cousin, Kaye, Vendalita, Jodi giggling in anticipation for the movie to get started, already!!!

Since it was a midnight showing, I saw lots of girls with blankets, slippers, and jammies on (maybe partly because they had jr high to attend in the early morning!) but I think mostly because it was nighttime for some people. We all work the night shift, so this was us in our element! Mid-afternoon, really!

Snuggling sans blankets and jammies...although, I did have my red work shoes on in case I was called in to work...never did get that nasty call though...YAY!!

Sundance Joy Belnap Wilson, our other family member, showed up just in time! She came because Britt had an extra seat she needed to fill, and Sund loves us enough, even though she had NO idea about the movie or had ever read the books! I told her not to mention her lack of Twilight knowledge, lest she be lynched by the mob. She lived.

Ever since Cousin taught us about our other set of "eyes", we were anxious to show them off too!

Well, the movie was poorly acted and obviously not funded as it should have been (otherwise that Rob Pattinson would have had the cash to remove all that unwanted chest hair...ick) but it was good enough for us to swoon (thanks to all those naked tribal men, especially that delicious jailbait, Jacob Black) and the company was fabulous! I'm sure we'll do it all again in June of 2010 when 'Eclipse' hits our humble American Fork theater and our humble lives are enriched once again :)